Kenya gives foreign workers 90 days to regularise their status

Kenya has given foreign workers 90 days to regularise their status, stepping back from an earlier order that sparked fear among migrants and sent hundreds of Burundians to their embassy in Nairobi seeking a way home.

President William Ruto had said foreigners could not work as hawkers or run small shops, giving them until Monday to stop. The order was widely viewed as an attempt to rally Kenyan hawkers ahead of next year’s elections, but it alarmed foreign workers, particularly Burundians who earn a living through street vending in Nairobi.

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We have made efforts to improve the economy, we have not improved investor confidence for hawkers to come to Kenya.

The government now says its aim was to ensure that nobody operates a business illegally. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the president’s office said authorities would carry out “an orderly regularisation exercise” over the next 90 days so migrants could obtain the correct work permits and licences. It warned that immigration rules would then be enforced “firmly and strictly in accordance with the law.”

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Our main aim is to know how you are living, where you are, that you have identification, and that your jobs are registered.

Citizens of East African Community countries can obtain work permits free of charge, but many have not completed the registration process. Burundi, an EAC member, is home to about 15 million people and is among the world’s poorest countries. Reports said some Burundians had been attacked after Ruto’s order.

Kenya’s junior foreign minister, Korir Sing’Oei, apologised to Burundians on Monday. “Our main aim is to know how you are living, where you are, that you have identification, and that your jobs are registered,” he said. He also said that “many have been attacked by their neighbours and their friends” because of a “lack of understanding.”

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Many have been attacked by their neighbours and their friends.